Sequence switch



' May 26, 1959 N. B. WALES, .IR

SEQUENCE SWITCH 'Filed May 16, 1956 FIG. 2

FIG.

FIG. 5

FIG. 4

INVENTOR. NATHANIEL B. WALES,JR.

AGENT United States Patent I SEQUENCE SWITCH Nathaniel B. Wales, IL, New York, N.Y., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company, Orange, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Application May 16, 1956, Serial No. 585,297

11 Claims. (Cl. 200-11) This invention relates to circuit switch devices of the type which employ a contact wiper adapted for dis placement relative to a series of contact pins and which effect a successive engagement with said pins for the purpose of sequentially extending selective electrical circuits.

On such switch devices it has been customary heretofore to place between each pair of live contact pins a non-circuit or dead contact pin, which serves to carry the contact wiper smoothly across the gap between the successive live contact pins in making and breaking the circuits.

The added pins, however, increase the cost of manufacture of the switch and present also certain disad-' vantages in that the supporting element .for the pinsv must be increased in size, or is caused to be weakened by the extra perforations punched therein to accommodate the added pins. Further, such added pins havev the tendency to increase power leakage across the live pins, and will increase also the incident of wear upon the wiper, thereby materially reducing the life expectancy of the switch.

An object of the present invention is to provide improved means for effecting a smooth operation of a contact wiper across the gap between adjacentlive contact pins without the need for such dead circuit pins and which thereby avoids the above-noted disadvantages inhe'rent. in earlier known switch devices of this type.

As another object the invention provides an improved circuit switch comprising a plurality of parallel contact wipers of equal length and resiliency mounted for rotation with a rotor and adapted to simultaneously engage each'a related series of concentrically arranged contact pins in which each series of pins form concentric circles at different radii around the pivot center of said rotor.

With the above and other objects in view the nature of which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings and more particularly defined by the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 isa face view of the switch, including a drive train for the rotor arm.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged right side View of the same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged top view of Figure 1 and showing'the contact wipers in'engagement with a pair of contact pins.

Fig.4 is a similar view with the contact wipers rotated Fig. 6 is an enlarged exploded perspective view ing the rotatable contact wiper and rotor upon which said wiper is mounted.

While the devices of the invention are equally adapted to other forms, such as a linear arrangement of the parts,

one preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and 2,888,528 Patented May 26, 1959 described herein as relates to a rotary switch of the type in which a plurality of contact pins are arranged upon a fixed support disc in concentric circles to be engaged in successive manner by a rotatable contact wiper, whereby selective electrical circuits may be sequentially extended for operating different instrumentalities.

As shown in Figure 5, fast within a suitable support plate 1 is a bearing 2 provided with a shouldered portion upon which is fixedly mounted, by suitable threaded nut means 3, a disc 4 constructed of dielectric material. Mounted upon disc 4 are two series of contact pins 5, 6 respectively, each series being arranged in a concentric circle around bearing 2 at a different radius therefrom and in which the radii for pins 5 are intermediate to the radii for the pins 6, so that a uniform maximum spacing is obtained between all the pins. Secured to each of the pins 5 are circuit leads 7, which for convenience may be termed output leads, while to each of the pins 6 is secured a corresponding circuit lead 7, which may be termed as-input leads.

Mounted for rotation within bearing 2 is a stub shaft 8 to one end of which is secured a gear 9 rotatable by any suitable power means having connection with the gear train 9'.

Upon a shouldered end 10 of shaft 8 is mounted an insulation washer 11 provided with a shouldered portion 11 upon which is mounted a rotor 13, constructed of dielectric material and being in general of L shapedlconfiguration. An insulating washer 14 is next mounted upon shoulder 10 to be adjacent to rotor 13, followed thereafter by a metal washer 15, and the whole securely fastened for rotation with shaft 8 by suitable thread'and nut means 16.

One arm 13' of the rotor 13 extends outward from shaft 8 and is provided at one end with an orifice 12 for mounting said rotor upon the shoulder 11' of washer 11, while the arm 13" of said rotor extends at right angles to arm 13 and is divided so as to form two adjacent parallel arms having each a shouldered end portion 17-'17 respectively.

At the conflux of arms 1313' there is secured to rotor 13, by suitable rivets 18, a contact member 19. made preferably of spring leaf Phosphor bronze for conducting an electrical circuit. Arm 19 is bent away from rotor 13 to form an offset portion upon which is mounted a pair of contact elements 20-26, and the upper end of said arm is bent inwardly at a substantially right angle to form a lateral projection 21 within which is cut a slotted opening 22. Thereafter, arm 19 upon being slotted along the major portion of its length will form two independently yieldable spring leaf contact wiper arms of equal length and resiliency.

Upon assembling the contact member 19 upon rotor cam 13 it will be observed that the portion of notch 22 related to the left wiper arm 19 will embrace the shoulder 17, while the portion of notch 22 related to the righthand wiper arm 19" embraces the shoulder 17 of rotor 13. Contact pin 20 of wiper arm 19 is adapted to engage the output or outer circle of contact pins 5, While contact pin 20 is adapted to engage the input or inner circle of pins 6, and it will be noted with reference to Fig. 3 that at such times' as said contact pins 2020' are in engagement with the respective pins 5, 6 the wiper arms 19"-19" are held in an outward position, so that the'rel'ated wall surface formed by the notch 22 will be held slightly away from the outside face of the projections 17--17' of the rotor 13.

Switch devices of the type herein disclosed are adapted to many well known uses and it will be sufiicient to say that in the present instance the resilient wiper arms 19- -19" are adapted to effect pressures of equal magnitude between the respective contacts 20--20 upon the related series of Contact pins 5, 6 and that in operations of rotor 13 the input circuits from leads 7 to the contact pins 5 are caused to be extended from the successive pins 5, through contact member 19, the related pins 6 and the corresponding output circuit leads 7 to any of wellknown instrumentalities.

Such operations of rotor 13 may be eifected in a step by step manner, through use of well-known indexing devices, or may be operated in a continuous manner by suitable high speed rotary devices.

In the present invention, however, the dead circuit pins heretofore utilized in switch devices to provide for a smooth and rapid movement of' the contact wipers in successively engaging a series of live contact pins has been eliminated, so that an operation of the contact wipers in the present instance will be as follows. 7

As contact pins 20-26 in the rotation of rotor 13 are caused to be moved from engagement with each related pair of contact pins 5, 6 the spring leaf wiper arms 19'-19" will each effect only a slight amount of lateral movement to the respective wiper contact pins 20-20, sufiicient to assure of proper engagement thereof with the succeeding stationary contact pins 5, 6, such lateral movement being limited by engagement of wiper arms 19'-19" with the respective shoulders 17-17 of the rotor 13. The wiper pins 20-20 are made each with a convex contact surface and it will be noted that in the above-described lateral movement of said pins the cam surface of said contact pins 20-20 will be maintained in alignment for engagement with the forward edge of the stationary contact pins 5, 6.

Thus, during the above-described rotation of rotor 13 the wiper pins 20-20 thereon are adapted to be carried across the intervening space between each pair of the stationary contact pins in a manner providing for smooth engagement with the related successive pins 5, 6.

So that wipers 19'-19" may be dampened against any overthrow, due to the above cam surface engagement of the contacts in high speed operations of the rotor 13, the wall surface formed by the notch 22 is adapted for cooperation with the inside face of the shoulders 17-17 so as to limit an outward lateral movement of said wipers.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of the present invention it will be obvious that changes in form and details of the device may be made by those skilled in the art, and it is, therefore, contemplated to cover by the appended claims any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. 7

What I claim is:

'1'. In a circuit sequence switch the combination comprising a body of dielectric material having a series of spaced electrical contact pins protruding therefrom, a second body of dielectric material said body being movable along a fixed plane and having supported thereon a resilient contact wiper adapted for lateral displacement relative to said second body, and wherein said wiper and said series of contact pins are displaceable relative to each other to effect a successive engagement of said wiper with said contact pins, and wherein said wiper upon moving between adjacent of said pins is caused to be out of engagement therewith, and having an area on the support body for the said wiper co-operable with an area on the said wiper to limit said lateral displacement of the wiper to substantially a plane coincident with the plane of the contact areas of said contact pins during such times as said wiper moves freely of frictional engagements across a space gap between adjacent of said spaced series of pins.

-2. In a circuit sequence switch the combination comprising a fixed support member of dielectric material having a series of spaced stationary contacts protruding therefrom, a movable member constructed of dielectric material and having fast thereon a spring leaf contact wiper the free end of which is biased laterally of the movement of said movable member and being toward the plane of the contact areas of said stationary contacts and wherein said wiper is movable across a space gap suflicient to be free of engagement with any of said contacts; and having a contact wiper locating means on the movable member, and means co-operable therewith on the free end of said wiper for limiting a lateral movement of the wiper upon disengagement from said contacts and for maintaining the wiper in a lateral position substantially in a plane coincident with the plane of the contact areas of said stationary contacts during 'a movement of said wiper between adjacent of said contacts.

3. The invention according to claim 2 and wherein the said "locating means on the movable member co-opcrates also with the lateral positioning means on the wiper to limit an outward overthrow of the wiper and thus dampen oscillations of the said wiper, as might occur incident to an engagement thereof with the stationary contacts during high speed operation of the movable member.

4. A sequence switch of the character described comprising a stationary member of dielectric material having a plurality of fixed electrical contacts protruding therefrom and spaced in a concentric circle around an axis perpendicular tothe plane of said stationary member, support means for said stationary member, a shaft bearinged for rotation within said support means, a rotor of dielectric material fast upon said shaft for rotation therewith, a resilient 'leaf spring contact wiper mounted upon said rotor and adapted during said rotary operation for engaging successively the said fixed contacts and wherein said wiper when rotating between adjacent of said contacts moves freely of engagement therewith; a locating element formed on said leaf spring contact wiper, an element co-operable therewith formed on the rotor, and wherein said elements during a movement of the rotary contact between adjacent of said fixed contacts co-operate to limit a lateral displacement of the rotary contact,

whereby the said rotary operation of said contact will be constrained to a path of movement substantially coincident with the plane of the contact areas of said fixed contacts.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 4 and in which the rotatable contact has camming surface engagement with the fixed contacts, and wherein the said locating element on the rotatable contact cooperates with the said element on the rotor whereby a lateral displacement of the rotating contact toward said fixed contacts will be limited to an extent of movement less than the rise of said camming surface.

6; Theinvention in accordance with claim 5 and wherein the said locating element on the rotatable contact is adapted to engage with the cooperating element on the rotor for restricting a lateral overthrow of said movable contact away from any of said fixed contacts resulting from said cam surface engagement between the said contacts during operation of the switch.

7. A rotary switch of the class described including a fixed disc of nonconducting material having a series of contact pins spaced thereon in a concentric circle around an axis perpendicular to the plane of said disc, a second series of contact pins arranged on said disc in a concentric circle having different radius around said axis to that of said first series of contact pins, and in which each said series of pins protrude from said 'disc, a rotor arm of nonconducting material mounted for rotation around an axis in common to all of said contact pins, a spring leaf wiper arm fast with said rotor and having contact areas for engaging each of said series of pins, and wherein said wiper arm is provided with a lateral projection having an opening thereinembracing a shouldered portion of said rotor for the purpose of restricting an extent of lateral displacement of said contact areas within a lateral zone substantially in a plane coinciding with the contact surface of the said fixed series of contact pins during said rotative operations of said Wiper while the contact areas are out of engagement with a contact surface of said protruding contact pins.

8. A rotary switch of the class described comprising a disc constructed of nonconducting material, a bushing upon which said disc is mounted, a series of electrical input contacts spaced upon said disc in a concentric circle around said bushing, a series of electrical output contacts spaced upon said disc in a concentric circle around said bushing of difierent radius to said input series and in which said output pins are spaced on radii intermediate to the radii of said input pins, a shaft bearinged within said bushing, a rotor mounted fast upon said shaft for rotation therewith, a circuit bridging member mounted upon said rotor and having parallel adjacent arms of equal length and resiliency biased toward engagement with the related input-output contacts, and wherein each of said Wiper arms include a lateral portion having a notched opening therein cooperable with related portions of said rotor to control a lateral movement of said wiper arms, whereby said wipers are carried freely across the gap between the successive adjacent contact pins during said rotative operations of said wipers.

9. A rotary switch of the class described comprising a disc constructed of nonconducting material, a bushing supporting said disc along an axis perpendicular to the plane of said disc, thread and nut means for removably securing said disc upon said bushing, a series of electrical input contacts spaced upon said disc in a concentric arc around said bushing, a series of electrical output contacts spaced upon said disc in a concentric are around said bushing of different radius to said input series and being spaced on radii intermediate to the radii of said input contacts, a shaft bearinged for rotation within said bushing, a rotor removably mounted by thread and nut means upon said shaft and adapted for rotation therewith, a circuit bridging member mounted fast with said rotor and having a pair of parallel adjacent spring leaf arms each of equal length and being biased toward engagement with related successive pairs of said input-output contacts during rotative operations of said rotor, and in which said wiper arms include a notched lateral portion providing a surface engageable with said rotor for limiting the lateral displacement of said wiper arms following a disengagement of said arms from said contacts, whereby said wiper arms will be carried freely between any adjacent contacts and in a plane of movement in common to the plane of the contact face of said contacts sufiicient to the purpose of assuring electrical circuit engagement therewith.

10. In a circuit sequence switch the combination comprising a body of dielectric material having a series of spaced electrical contact pins protruding therefrom to provide at least three successively spaced contact areas in a given plane spaced from said body, a second body of dielectric material, said second body being movable along a fixed plane in parallel with the plane of said contact areas, a resilient contact wiper fast on said second body and being biased for lateral displacement relative thereto, and wherein said wiper and said series of contact pins are displaceable relative to each other within said given plane whereby to effect a successive engagement of said wiper in slidable manner with each of said contact pins, and wherein said wiper upon moving between said adjacent spaced contact pins is caused to be out of engagement therewith, and having an area on the support body for the said Wiper cooperable with an area on the said Wiper to limit said lateral displacement of the wiper to substantially a plane coincident with the plane of the contact areas of said contact pins, and wherein said wiper is carried freely of frictional engagements across a space gap during said movement between said adjacent spaced series of contact 131118.

11. In a circuit sequence switch the combination comprising a body of dielectric material having a plurality of adjacent spaced electrical contact pins protruding therefrom so as to effect a plurality of contact areas in a uniform plane spaced parallel to said body, a second body of dielectric material, said second body being movable in a uniform plane adjacent and parallel to said first body, a resilient contact wiper mounted upon said second body for movement therewith in a plane substantially coincident with the said plane of said contact areas across a space gap for slidable engagement with a succeeding one of said adjacent contact pins, and having means on said second body cooperable with means on said contact wiper whereby said wiper is constrained for uniform limited movement normal to the said contact areas and is carried freely across the said space gap without frictional load.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 653,725 Woodward July 17, 1900 937,201 Andrew Oct. 19, 1909 1,835,788 Knoop Dec. 8, 1931 1,900,236 Hall Mar. 7, 1933 2,127,608 Manley Aug. 23, 1938 2,200,235 Aufiero May 7, 1940 2,222,564 Henry Nov. 19, 1940 2,439,747 Nelson Apr. 13, 1948 2,481,033 Nelsen Sept. 6, 1949 2,501,195 Smith Mar. 21, 1950 2,619,621 Brown Nov. 25, 1952 2,712,581 Smith July 5, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 283,895 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1952 

